PM to decide over AFSPA: Ansari

July 04, 2009 16:37 IST

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who had served as the chairman of a committee which favoured withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, on Saturday said the prime minister would take a decision on the matter.

Ansari, during his stint as chairman of a working group on Confidence Building Measures, had recommended in 2007 that the act giving special powers to the armed forces should be revoked.

"The Prime Minister and the Central government will decide this issue. You leave it to them," Ansari said, when asked about the action taken by the government on the recommendations for repelling the AFSPA and the Disturbed Area Act (DAA).

However, he refused to further comment on the issue. "I am here to honour a national hero. This event is dedicated to him so our focus should be the event," he said, while unveiling the bust of Mahavir Chakra awardee Brigadier Mohammad Usman at Jhangar, barely a kilometre from the Line Of Control in Rajouri district.

The Vice President also dedicated to the nation Brigadier Usman Memorial Hospital. Late Brigadier Usman had valiantly fought against Pakistani troops in the 1948 war and died while trying to recapture Jhangar and Nowshers areas from the enemy.